Emerald sat crossed legged in her human form on a stone floor.
She was back in the Enclave and in one of the many buildings. In the room with her were Whisper and Bluno, both sitting on cushions right in front of her. Emerald had both of her hands on their heads and was using her memory spell on them to learn from their memories. What she was seeking to learn was how to dig like a Diamond Dog and the basic lessons a pegasus learned in using their abilities. Although arguably her griffin memories could be better for this, Emerald just wanted to make sure she wasn’t missing crucial lessons when it came to pegasi flight.
“Bucking hay this is miserable…” Whisper muttered lowly with Bluno giving a huff of agreement.
Emerald frowned. She had improved upon her technique quite a bit, but she was still causing pain to the people she extracted memories from. At least she had also improved on the extraction speed so she didn’t take so long to get all the memories she wanted.
“And… done,” Emerald stated and removed her hands to the two’s audible relief. “You two were very helpful. Here is some instant relief.”
The virus then reached over and quickly jabbed her fore finger into the forehead of the two, injecting chemicals with the quick movement. After a moment, the two released a sigh as they felt their headaches fade away.
“So are we done with this whole ‘putting up with a splitting headache for an hour’ thing?” Whisper Wind asked a bit irritably. “Because I really hope we are done. It just ruins my mood for the whole day.”
“It really does,” Bluno agreed with a grin and got a good natured kick from Whisper in response.
“Yes, you are both done.” Emerald smiled. “You both can leave now. Thanks you again.”
“No problem, boss.” Bluno smiled and led Whisper out of the room. “We’re going to go explore the woods again.”
“Have fun,” Emerald said after the two before frowning thoughtfully as she considered the memories she had taken in. She loved how the dogs were able to almost move faster through the dirt than they were able to run and now she had that same ability and skill… hopefully. She had a patchwork idea of how weather forming was done, thanks to her vast knowledge and griffin memories, but having pegasi knowledge of how it was done would be very useful in ironing things out.
After a moment longer, Emerald walked out the door as well and, after moving through the halls of the building, she found herself out in the streets of the Enclave. They were busy as always, the stomping of a platoon of Warhounds only adding to the noise.
Emerald frowned as she took in the appearances of the Warhounds marching by in front of her. They were all wearing the new dragon scale armor and bearing the new rifles, their visage made threatening and fearsome by the black scales and dark red of the silk underclothes.
‘Never did like dark colors,’ Emerald thought as the dogs finished passing by. ‘So washed out and… unappealing. Never did like how the rest of the Evolved decided to be all dark and evil looking. It’s not very inconspicuous now is it? If Blackwatch wasn’t such a bunch of psychopathic morons, they’d be able to stop the more destructive ones as they blatantly approached, but the game was rigged from the start wasn’t it?’
‘Anyway,’ Emerald continued as she started going down the road. ‘The next generation of armour shall not be as dark; it will be bright and colorful. With the ideas I have in store for it, brightness and color shall not be a stealth problem anyway.’
Even now, when she had just recently created a new and more powerful form of armor for her forces, Emerald’s mind was already on the future, already thinking of ideas to create a new suit of armor that would be magnitudes better than the last. And that wasn’t her only idea as well; there were plenty other things that needed attention to be developed.
Emerald stopped in place and looked around, taking in the loud and busy street. She frowned in some annoyance.
‘Let’s go somewhere a bit more calming,’ Emerald thought before smiling. ‘Huh, nice to actually have that choice for once.’
With that, Emerald disappeared in a flash of red light. She reappeared an instant later in the ravine she had chosen as the place she would build a hydroelectric dam once she had the capabilities to do so. The sound of rushing water was calming to her ears and she happily sat down on a rock sticking out of the river, ignoring the splash of water against her as the water surged by and occasional gust of cool icy wind.
‘Okay, so the next generation of armor. What will it be?’ Emerald thought for a few moments, a loud splashing echoed behind her. ‘Hmm… thanks to Spike’s DNA, I can mess around with non-organic molecules now, so I reorder a metal into something extremely strong. I think… I can create carbon nanotubes. I know what the structure looks like, so if I can learn to create it I can eventually make something to automate the process. Course, carbon nanotube will be extremely strong and therefore I’m going to have to create the process to put it into armor shape myself.’
‘Okay, so hardness is good, but I don’t want an armor that is JUST tougher,’ Emerald continued. ‘I want the next armor to be better in many ways, so how to do that? Well I know my magic now, and those lessons with Luna have only just helped me to regain my magical control so I should do something with that. Yeah, that’s a great idea. I’ll practice my runes and create several effects I’ll want to imbue the armor with. Of course the real trick then will be creating an automated process to carve the runes into the armor and power up said runes.’
‘Which brings me to our magical battery situation.’ Emerald hummed in thought. ‘The storm sapphire has been incredibly useful so far and has a massive internal battery to store excess magic to turn into electricity. But as we have increased our power usage, the sapphire has drained faster. Right now I need to recharge the gem weekly, otherwise the power runs out. So a better means of storing magic for power, and maybe some form of generating magical energy for use as power. Various gemstones can be used as a magical battery, but they have their limits and those are much lower compared to the storm sapphire’s. Hmm… I’ll have to do something like the nanotubes; improve upon the crystals by optimizing their molecular makeup. Unfortunately this one will be a purely from scratch project. There is very little that can help me here to head in the right direction on the first try. Oh well, that’s what the scientific method is for.’
‘And finally, vehicles,’ Emerald continued. ‘After showing them my proof of concept, the dogs have been making leaps and bounds on their first combustion engine, which will then lead into their first vehicle. My hints are helping, but it won’t exactly be a powerhouse. Still good for a first model ever, though.’
Quite suddenly, Emerald heard a loud splash behind her. She wouldn’t have even noticed it since she was surrounded by rushing water, but it had been followed by a quiet ‘Oops…’
Keeping herself completely and utterly still, Emerald made herself look like she didn’t notice a thing. After a moment, she then abruptly whipped around.
“EPP!” There was a squeak of shock followed by a splash of water.
Emerald was frozen for a moment, blinking her eyes as she considered what she had just seen. The thing had reacted quickly, and had Emerald been a normal person, she wouldn’t have been sure what she had seen. But she wasn’t, and was able to see every single details and recall it with perfect clarity.
What had been half perched on another rock in the water behind her was a pony that was completely made up of rushing water. The ‘mare’ had a mane of foaming water and parts of her had been covered in crustaceous armor plating. She wasn’t sure what the lower half of it looked like, since it was half submerged when she saw it.
‘What the hell was that?’ Emerald thought. ‘Some sort of Sea Pony or something?’
Emerald stood up on her rock and stared into the water. Quite predictably, she didn’t find the creature. She frowned and wondered for a few moments before sending out a viral pulse. Just like when she tried hunting a cockatrice, the pulse never came back. Emerald pondered this for a minute before thinking of a possible solution.
‘Sovereign is a spirit whose physical form is made of plant matter,’ Emerald thought. ‘This being I just saw was like him, only made of water. Though it did have those odd spots covered in a lobster like shell. I should go find him and question him on this. If anyone would know anything about the stuff in this forest, it’s the person that embodies it.’
Emerald sent another viral pulse, this time centered on Sovereign. The pulse came back very quickly from a bit above her and downstream of the ravine.
Emerald teleported into the sky and quickly formed her bladewings. Below her, the Everfree in the midst of fall stretched out in an explosion of warm colors. She hovered in place for a moment before locating Sovereign. He was in a timber wolf form and was looking over the area she had some dogs working in prep for the dam. She then teleported down to the ground behind him and walked over to stand beside him.
“What do you intend to do with the ravine?” Sovereign asked.
“I’m hoping you’ll allow me to build a hydroelectric dam to help power the city in the cavern below,” Emerald answered. “I am aware of all the effects and environmental changes a dam can bring to the local biomes though, so I’m waiting for your go ahead before getting started on anything.”
Sovereign was quiet for a long moment as he studied the dogs working on the ravine walls below him, carving chunks off of the cliff walls in preparation of construction. The forest spirit turned his head, staring off into the distance upstream before looking downstream.
“Hmm… I suppose the forest could use another lake in it,” Sovereign stated finally.
“Thank you, Sovereign. I won’t abuse your trust in me,” Emerald replied.
“I know.”
“Sovereign, I was down in the ravine just a moment ago and spotted a strange creature,” Emerald stated. “It was made of water and had shellfish like patches on it. It reminded me a lot of you, actually. You are a spirit whose physical form is made up of his element. Do you know what it was?”
“What you saw is quite simply, a water spirit,” Sovereign answered. “Or Hippocampi as they were once called.”
“Why did you never tell me that other spirits lived in the Everfree?” Emerald asked.
“You never asked,” Sovereign answered simply.
“Really…” Emerald shot the forest spirit an annoyed look. “And are there other spirits residing in the Everfree?”
“Yes,” Sovereign briefly answered before leaping down into the ravine.
Emerald watched Sovereign land on a rock before leaping from rock to rock a little ways upstream. The spirit then came to a stop upon one rock and soon a familiar being poked it’s head out of the water, the “Hippocampi”.
The virus observed the two seeming to talk for a time before turning away and walking back towards the entrance to the Hub.
‘I should get more work done on the creature embryos,’ Emerald thought. ‘I have that Iron Pony competition Applejack and Rainbow Dash invited me to. Seems they finally want to see just how athletic I am in comparison to them… this may or may not end well.’
As she descended down into the tunnels, snowflakes began to fall from the sky. Nature created snowflakes, a rare creation in this world.
ALPHA
A simplistic intelligence focused on the muffled noises it could hear barely managed to hear with its half developed ears. It pondered the noises with great curiosity, trying to put a name to the noise with its incredibly limited knowledge. It eventually did manage to put a name to the sounds just as they ended; footsteps. And that was when a familiar and very welcomed presence made itself known.
‘Mommy!’ the creature childishly exclaimed within its mind. Its frail, half formed body squirmed within the liquid it was suspended in as it tried to move towards the warm presence.
Creator, maker, designer, architect, mother. These words were amongst the first the creature learned to comprehend when it started its awareness some time ago. But those weren’t the only words it learned. Friend, ally, enemy, protect, VIP, flank, charge, hunt, search and destroy, love, play. These words it had also learned in its time in this warm and dark place. It had also learned concepts as well. It was a little hard, but it was as if it wasn’t capable of not comprehending what was being sent into its mind.
But now that “mommy” was here, the new lessons were starting and the creature could feel them flowing into his mind right now.
Family, Diamond Dog, pony, pegasus, earth pony, unicorn, Thrace, Podargos, Xanthos, Lampon, Deinos, Alicorn, Princesses. All these words flowed into the creature’s mind. And a new concept, one that seemed really important if the sense of urgency was right; adaptation. Learn to change to meet the challenge, problem solve, sly planning.
The flow of new lessons from “mommy” started to slow and the creature started to ponder anew when it felt a new sensation start to make itself known. The creature didn’t know what it was, but there was a feeling of… multiple? Was that the right word? But now the feeling only grew stronger, and then it heard new sounds.
Noises much different than the “footsteps”. There was a word to them, he learned before, but what was it? Calls? Yes, it could heard others calling out. Their voices were faint and muffled, but he could hear them.
The creature was confused about the other beings and the feelings they caused. After a moment, the creature abruptly realised it could… feel through it? It could feel the
others through this odd sensation, and when it did it was shocked by the new feeling. They were familiar, so very familiar to him… there was a word for this, he had just learned it!
‘Family… brothers… sisters… big family… love you mommy…’
BETA
Emerald, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were lined up at a line in the frozen dirt. The three were wearing some winter gear. Applejack had a scarf on. Dash had a scarf and a pair of earmuffs. Emerald had a scarf as well, but also had a Stetson like Applejack’s, only white.
Before the three was an obstacle course, the last event of the iron pony competition the three were having. It had loads of obstacles, a rope wall, a series of tilted and horizontal wooden poles which you had to climb through, a series of rope swings, balancing on a thin wooden pole while sandbags swung about you. The obstacle course had a little bit of everything.
Over to the side of the course were Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom, their audience of three.
“Ready?” Applebloom shouted as she hoisted a small flag. “Set… GO!”
And with that, the three took off from the starting line. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both pulled ahead of Emerald, neck and neck with each other as they rapidly approached the first obstacle, the rope wall.
“Come on Applejack!” Applebloom cheered. “You can do it!”
“Go Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo hopped in place, wearing a rainbow colored wig along with a matching little pennant.
“Go faster Emmy!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “They’re pulling ahead of you!”
Emerald only smiled at the last cheer. She had won a third of all of the events the three of them had competed in. It would have been a total breeze for her to have won every single event, but then Emerald would have felt very guilty about it. It was better that she gave the illusion that they were equal to her in athletic ability than to utterly outclass them. One thing she noticed though, was that Rainbow had not taken flight once during any of the events, which was an improvement from the last competition based on what she heard about it.
The virus kept up a few steps behind the two as they raced through the course as fast as they could and was fine with not winning this one. It was when the three of them had reached the balancing obstacle with the swinging sand bags that she was called out for her actions.
“Come on sugarcube!” Applejack shouted as she ducked under one bag. “Stop holdin’ back so darn much! We can take it!”
“Yeah!” Rainbow added as she darted past several closely packed bags. “We’re big girls! We can take some extra challenge!”
‘Hey, you asked for it.’ Emerald smirked mercilessly and decided to stop holding back… but only a little bit.
Immediately, Emerald quickly gained on the two competitive mares and passed them just as they finished the obstacle. The two looked surprised for a moment before grinning, competitive natures stirred up as the two quickly put their all into beating Emerald.
Though she had severely limited her physical abilities in this contest, Emerald still had quite a few substantial passive advantages going for her. Her own weight was meaningless to her. Despite the fact she weighed several tons, she was utterly tireless and could literally run forever and a day if she wanted. And finally, she had perfect balance so any sudden loss of footing wouldn’t be through any fault of her own. All these meant that the obstacles before her might as well not have existed, but despite this Applejack and Rainbow Dash managed to keep pace and even managed to get neck and neck with her. However, as was stated, Emerald was tireless; the other two most definitely were not.
They kept up though through sheer competitive spirit and stubbornness, but as they moved through the final obstacles they were obviously looking out of it. Emerald could hear the two panting as the three of them exited out of several large pipes which they had to crawl through. Despite their obvious exhaustion, the two seemed to gain a second wind as they came in view of the final stretch before the finish line. They caught up with Emerald and remained neck and neck with her for a few moments, but Emerald’s untiring nature won out in the end and the two began to lag back and slow just as the finish line approached.
Emerald crossed the line and came to a skidding stop to the gleeful cheering of Sweetie Belle.
“I knew you could do it Emmy!” Sweetie shouted, leaping at Emerald and hugging her around the neck.
“Heh heh, thanks for believing in me Sweetie.” Emerald smiled down at the little filly.
“Gah…” Rainbow panted, practically face down in the frozen dirt. Beside her, Applejack was barely any better with being on her back and uncaring of the icy chill she felt. “Okay… tha… that’s just not fair. You’re not even winded… you definitely won…”
“Well… it wasn’t that much of a win; you guys were kind of at a disadvantage,” Emerald replied truthfully.
“That there is horsefeathers, sugarcube,” Applejack retorted lightly. “Ya being the more fit and stronger mare of us three isn’t cheatin’.”
“What she said!” Dash added eagerly. “Don’t get yourself down, Emmy. Just because you had a reason to get super fit doesn’t mean it’s unfair to others.”
“If you two say so,” Emerald said with a small smile.
“Well… she may be all that on the ground, but you are the best flyer in all of Equestria, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said as she walked over to her personal hero. “She can’t hope to match you there!”
“Oh yeah, nopony better than this mare at flying!” Dash smiled confidently. “Even if you did have wings, Emerald, I doubt you’d be able to match me in the sky.”
“Oh really?” Emerald asked with an amused grin. “You know there is a self-levitation spell for advanced magic users. Maybe I could get around to learning that and we can see for ourselves if that is true?”
“Oh? Little miss perfect thinks she can outperform me with just a little magic trick, huh?” Dash said, competitive spirit riled up once more. “Bring it on! I swear on Celestia’s sun, you’ll never be faster than me!”
‘And you’ve already lost that bet, Dash…’ Emerald thought and suddenly felt a little bad as she considered one word Dash had said. ‘Little miss perfect… was that just a friendly taunt or is she venting how she really feels about my various demonstrated skills? I really should put a more of a cap on those demonstrations…’
“Well you appear to have quite the advantage there,” Emerald stated. “This was a fun little competition, wasn’t it?”
“Oh yes it was,” Dash replied and started stretching out her limbs. “It made for a good workout and racing prep too!”
“You have a race later?” Emerald asked.
“Yep!” Dash answered. “Later this week! Lots of ponies from all around going to compete. Figure I’d go take a look, you know… maybe get another medal for my collection.”
“I’m sure you’ll have it in the bag, Dash,” Emerald replied.
“Definitely.” Dash nodded confidently. “Whelp I better go, I only got time off work for this morning. I have to unwind and stretch out my muscles before a long day at work. Lots of ponies depending on that weather to be better late than never!”
“That filly has been putting in so much hard work,” Applejack stated admirably. “So many ponies relying on her to try to get the weather back on schedule an’ she jus’ acts like it’s nothing. Course the reason why she has to put in so many hours is bad.”
“Yeah…” Emerald frowned.
“Uhh… ya going to help Pinkie with her confection stand for the race?” Applejack asked, quickly changing the topic.
“I didn’t know Pinkie was going to set up a stand for the race,” Emerald replied before taking off her white Stetson. “Oh, here’s your hat back.”
“Nah, ya’ll keep it.” The cow pony shook her head. “Consider it a gift from me to you, sugarcube.”
“Thank you, Applejack.” Emerald smiled and replaced her hat atop her head.
“How’s Navi?” Applejack asked. “Haven’t seen the little critter for a while.”
“Navi is an insect. She doesn’t really like the cold at all,” Emerald answered. “She’s been rather lazy lately and stays snug under the covers of her little bed.”
“Being inside all warm and cosy like under the covers sounds mighty enticing to me too,” Applejack replied. “But farm work doesn’t stop, even in this weather. Speaking of which, got to go check up on the animals now. Make sure all the critters are warm and got their food .”
“I’ve got things to do, too. Got to be at a photo shoot with Fluttershy in about an hour,” Emerald said. “I might as well be there early and keep her nerves from getting frayed.”
“Filly never did like attention all that much. Remarkable she’s stayin’ in that business long as she has,” Applejack said before tipping her hat at the virus. “Anyway, ah’ll be seeing ya later, sugarcube. Applebloom, ya gonna be helping me check up on animals?”
“See you, Applejack.” Emerald waved goodbye briefly before teleporting away.
GAMMA
Emerald arrived with a flash of light. She was now in the backstage area of a fashion show that Photo Finish had booked for both her and Fluttershy. Said demure pegasus was sitting in a comfy seat and being attended to by Photo’s army of makeup artists.
“Hey everypony!” Emerald greeted.
“Hello Emerald!” Fluttershy replied, her voice muffled amongst a chorus of greetings from the makeup artists. “I’m so glad to see you here!”
“Still get jittery at these fashion shows?” Emerald asked as she walked over and took a makeup chair of her own.
“Oh yes. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” Fluttershy answered. “I found it really difficult to do this alone during that time when you went on that trip of self-discovery, but Rarity really helped me to stay strong.”
“That’s nice to hear,” Emerald replied as she was attended to by only one pony.
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s so nice that your coat is so clean and clear, and your mane is so obedient,” the makeup artist said as she worked. “But it really leaves me with pretty much no work at all to do. You really are a one of a kind pony, Emerald.”
“You must really enjoy your work if you are complaining about a lack of it.” Emerald smiled at the stylist.
“We all do!” The stylist smiled and the others all nodded their agreement. “Photo Finish is a bit of a diva and a demanding boss, but who isn’t in this business? Well… save for you and Fluttershy that is, and that is a wonderful change of pace in itself.”
Emerald was having more curls being added to her mane when the door burst open and in walked two mares. The first one was an earth pony and had a pink coat with a purple mane and wore a baby blue scarf around her neck, while the other was a light blue unicorn with a pink mane and seemed to be busy trying to keep aloft dozens of things with her magic. She seemed rather stressed out and frazzled.
“Ugh, you haven’t gotten them in any of my dresses yet?” the pink mare scoffed in some disgust. “And I soo wanted to see what my dresses would look like being worn. Quill here just did up some last minute stitching last night and I want to make sure she didn’t mess up any of my hard work.”
“We’re sorry, miss. We’ll have the models ready as soon as possible,” one of the stylists apologised, not bothering to point out that Emerald only just arrived and that the fashion show was still about an hour or so from starting.
“Whatever. Quill!” the mare shouted suddenly and startled her assistant who nearly dropped everything she was carrying. “Don’t drop anything! I need some coffee, go get me some.”
“Uh, er r-right!” Quill stammered and seemed to wonder if she should put stuff down before deciding to bring everything with her before quickly leaving the room.
Emerald watched the fashion designer in her mirror discreetly. She was humming a little and seemed to be studying both her and Fluttershy, who seemed to dislike the bossy designer from the frown on her face if Emerald was judging her right.
The designer then passed Fluttershy over and walked over to Emerald. She came to a stop just beside Emerald and gave her a friendly grin.
“Look at you! Like, oh my goddess, they haven’t even applied the makeup to you and you already look ready for the catwalk,” she said.
“I get that a lot, thank you.” Emerald faked a smile easily. She could see rather easily that the mare wanted something and was just being friendly to butter her up and make her more open to what she wanted.
“I’ve seen your, well everypony has seen your work, but I like them,” the mare continued. “Your recent ads that company you work with are a hit with everypony and I was wondering… do you take exclusives?”
“Depends on what you mean, but I am always open to making more money,” Emerald replied. “Can I get your name?”
“I’m Suri Polomare,” ‘Suri’ said. “I’m an up and coming designer in Manehattan. I managed to hit it big with a recent fashion line, so I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot about me in the future. More so if we can make a deal.”
“Hmm… so you want me to exclusively model your fashion lines for a time?” Emerald stated with faux interest.
“Definitely. I may be small now, but when I said I hit it big, I mean I hit it big,” Suri explained. “And if you could model my lines, then that’ll be just great. I get more coverage from a big name model and you get a cushy job with excellent pay. What do you say?”
“I always have an interest in making money,” Emerald said truthfully, but also didn’t promise anything. “I have an agent. Her name is Photo Finish. Negotiate a deal with her and we’ll be good to go.”
“Oh… Photo Finish, huh?” Suri said, losing a lot of her friendly expression before it was firmly back in place. “Sure! I’ll get in touch with her. We’ll have coffee together and hammer out a deal! See you later, Emerald. Hopefully you’ll be working for me next time we meet.”
“Hopefully,” Emerald said after her lightly.
The makeup room was quiet for a long moment until Suri had gone and was certainly far from the door.
“Yeah, she isn’t going to get anywhere with Photo Finish,” Emerald stated confidently. “Those smarmy types aren’t fun to be around, or trustworthy.”
“I heard she actually had gotten in a few fights with some other fashion designers,” Emerald’s stylist stage whispered. “They accused her of copying their styles and quickly redoing her dresses right before shows.”
“And she seems really mean. That poor assistant of hers…” Fluttershy said sadly before her face lit up with sudden realisation. “Oh! Emerald, did Rarity talk to you about that spa treatment she scheduled for the both of you?”
“No, I did not hear from her about that,” Emerald said. “Didn’t even know she wanted to do that with me. Huh, never had a spa treatment before. Guess this will be a treat and an experience.”
“Oh I’m certain you’ll just love it, Emerald.” Fluttershy smiled. “I always feel so relaxed and refreshed after going to those weekly visits me and Rarity have.”
“Well I’m not going to say no, so we’ll see just how well it goes,” Emerald replied.
DELTA
“Emerald darling!” Rarity greeted happily, placing the magazine she had been reading back down on the coffee table.
“Hello Rarity,” Emerald greeted back as she closed the spa door behind her. “I’m here for our scheduled treatment.”
“And I’m so glad you could make it, dear,” Rarity said and got up from the lobby couch, picking up a package as she did so. “I know how busy you can be after all.”
“I try to make time for my friends, Rarity,” Emerald replied. “What’s that you have there?”
“This is for you, Emerald,” Rarity said and levitated the package over to Emerald.
Emerald took hold of the package and studied it for a moment before tearing it open with her magic. Inside was a lush white bath robe with green lining. Near the bottom was a pair of letters embroidered in green thread, ‘EG’.
“You got me this?” Emerald smiled widely. “Planning on having this being a much more common thing huh?”
“Oh I know they have plenty of spare bathrobes in the back here, but I just had to get you something that was yours.” Rarity smiled warmly. “Shall we put our personalised robes on and start on our spa visit?”
“Sure thing.” Emerald smiled and followed the other unicorn into the back.
A few moments later found both Emerald and Rarity in the steam room of the spa. Normally this sort of thing would be great for their pores, but for Emerald it was fairly redundant. Anything that decided to settle into her skin pores was basically committing suicide. But for the sake of spending time with one of her best friends, she simply settled in and enjoyed the atmosphere…. eventually, she even found herself relaxing and feeling the tension seep out of her.
“Ahhhh, I always enjoy these trips to the spa.” Rarity sighed as one of the twin masseuses poured water onto the hot coals. “Normally having these trips more than once a week would be just dreadfully extravagant, but I wanted just the two of us here.”
“Maybe I’ll start tagging along with those weekly spa visits with you and Fluttershy?” Emerald suggested.
“Oh that just sounds delightful.” Rarity smiled happily.
Soon their time in the steam room was done and the two were now lying down to get massages. Emerald was actually looking forward to this one. Not because she was going to enjoy getting the massage, but because she was going to enjoy the look on masseuse’s face when she tried to give her one.
The twin masseuses attended to Rarity first, quickly covering her face with a mud mask and her eyes with zucchini slices. Then they placed several cushions under her before finally getting to work. One of the twins got a file and started to work on Rarity’s horn. Emerald smirked at that. If they were going to give the two of them “horn manicures” before the massage, then they were going to be in for two surprises instead of one.
The other twin gave her a studying look before giving her some dabs with the face crème rather than the full on mask that was given to Rarity. Then she brought out a file and approached Emerald before placing it on the tip of her horn and began to work.
The twin filed away at Emerald’s horn for a few moments before pulling away to see her progress and blinked when she didn’t see the slightest change in the horn. She looked at the surface of her file for a moment and saw no white filing dust from Emerald’s horn. She then gave a slight shrug before going back to work, horns were always a little different, some were hard, some were brittle, some were even a little bendy.
She went to work on Emerald’s horn, putting more force down on the file and pulled back again to see her work. She gaped a little when yet again she didn’t make even the slightest progress on the horn. The masseuse frowned determinedly and went back to work with greater fervour.
Her sister stopped her filing when she heard the grinding noise of her sister’s file reach an alarming speed and din. She looked over and gaped at the sight of her twin gritting her teeth and grinding away at Emerald’s horn with enough speed to hurt a normal unicorn. Rarity, seeming to notice something was wrong, lifted up one of the zucchinis covering her eyes and frowned in concern at the sight that met her eye.
After several moments of grinding away as hard as she could, the masseuse stopped again and took a step back to study her progress. She gaped with utter shock at the unmarked horn that met her gaze. She looked down at her file, only to see that the file had been grinded down to a smooth surface. She looked back at Emerald’s face to see her with a sly grin.
“What can I say?” Emerald said with a small shrug. “I’ve got a hard horn.”
“That would have been nice to know before,” the masseuse stated before shaking her head and heading over to the nearest trash can to throw away the now useless file.
“Please don’t tease Aloe, Emerald dear,” Rarity said.
“Heh, I’ll try,” Emerald replied.
A few moments later and both masseuses had moved on to the massage portion of their treatment. This time Rarity had gotten someone else to work on her; a yellow coated and blond earth pony who was rapidly hitting her back. Instead of Aloe working on Emerald, it was her sister whose name Emerald had yet to learn.
The masseuse walked up to Emerald’s side and reared up before placing her hooves around her shoulders. She was just beginning to knead the virus’ muscles when she stopped and frowned. She had given massages to muscular ponies before, and while their muscles were tough, they were usually still easy to work with when they were relaxed. Emerald’s muscles, though, just had no give whatsoever and felt hard as rock.
“Excuse me miss, can you relax your muscles?” she asked Emerald. “I’m really having a lot of difficulty working on you when you’re all tensed up like this.”
“I am relaxed,” Emerald replied to the masseuses’ surprise. “But let me see if I can unwind out a bit more for you.”
Emerald then made a show of taking several deep calming breaths before decreasing the density in the outer layers of her body. It would be enough for the masseuse to work with, but still have that “tough muscle” she was known for.
After giving an experimental kneading of Emerald’s shoulders, the mare found that it was much easier to work now.
“Thank you miss, sorry for the trouble,” she stated as she set to work. “To be a mare with your figure and still have all this well-developed muscles? You are a fluke of nature. I doubt there will be anypony like you again for a very long time.”
“Thank you,” Emerald replied with a sly smile.
“E-Emerald a-always has b-been very f-fit,” Rarity stuttered through the fast and hard work of her own masseuse.
Soon the massage ended and the two were being led to the area where they would be having a “cleansing mud bath”. At this point, normally the twins would be getting Emerald prepped for the dip briefly before getting Rarity covered up in her own quite time consuming preparations that involved a lot of seaweed. However, the glamorous unicorn had other ideas.
“I don’t mean this in any way as an insult, but why don’t you let me handle Emerald?” Rarity asked as the twins were about to style Emerald’s mane into a bun for the mud bath.
“What for, Rarity?” Emerald asked.
“I wanted to work on your wonderful mane again.” Rarity smiled. “And it’s nearly been a year since I did it last time.”
“Oh yeah,” Emerald said and was immediately reminded of the sleep over. “I’m fine with it if you two are.”
“The favorite customer is always right!” Aloe stated with a smile her sister eagerly matched.
“Wonderful!” Rarity said and happily walked over and sat herself down just behind Emerald, quickly levitating over two combs and a hair tie. “It’s been far too long since you and I have partaken in a little bit of girl talk.”
“Heh heh, what do you want to talk about?” Emerald smiled, shooting Rarity an amused look out of the corner of her eye.
“Why, Twilight of course!” Rarity said as the twins decided to give the two a few minutes to themselves and leave. “How is she? Have the two of you been getting along well? Do you feel your relationship has deepened since you two became a couple?”
“Twilight hasn’t been in a relationship before. That fact is very clear,” Emerald replied. “She puts in so much effort to make our dates perfect when she is the one taking me out, she ends up getting in her own way and tripping over her efforts. But I find it adorable myself. I just correct her and help her when she makes mistakes. It seems to be working since she stopped trying to make everything like they are in the books.”
“That’s wonderful, Emerald,” Rarity replied as she leisurely brushed Emerald’s mane. “But… now I am curious, it sounds like you’ve been in a relationship before.”
“…I have.”
“Would it be a tale you are willing to share?”
“…Alright,” Emerald said after a moment. “Her name was Sophie. She was another unlucky person in Mercer’s ‘employ’. We were both depressed, desperate people who wanted an outlet to distract them from our miserable lot in life.”
Rarity smiled warmly at Emerald, though she couldn’t see it. She found the idea of two people seeking a peace in each other that their lives lacked to be rather touching. She found herself wondering what had happened to end such a relationship.
“I… had lost my virginity to her and vice versa,” Emerald then admitted.
Suddenly, Rarity didn’t find it so touching. Really, pre-marital relations weren’t exactly appropriate… but at the same time she could hardly expect the two to have sought out someone to marry them in the conditions they were in. However, Rarity realised one thing and had to ask a question.
“Err… Emerald dear… weren’t you a small filly when all that happened?” Rarity asked in some discomfort.
“Huh? No, I was never that young, what made you think that?” Emerald replied easily, an easy truth to state as Emerald had always kept the “truths” she stated ambiguous enough for easy expansion.
‘Hmph, you could have corrected the obvious implication though.’ Rarity huffed before asking another more personal question.
“What had happened between the two of you?” Rarity asked.
“Mercer happened,” Emerald stated a bit hollowly.
Rarity waited for Emerald to explain further, but after a moment she realised that no explanation was forth coming. Rarity felt that some deep seated trauma was involved here, and instinctively reached out to Emerald with her forelegs and wrapped her up in a tight hug.
“I’m sorry, Emerald,” Rarity said soothingly. “I keep forgetting what a truly horrid life you lived before coming to Equestria. The past is really painful for you, and I shouldn’t be bringing it up so thoughtlessly.”
“It’s okay, Rarity,” Emerald replied and relaxed in her grasp. “You don’t mean anything by it and now that I have lived in Equestria for this long, the past has started to become less painful.”
“That’s nice to hear.” Rarity smiled and finished up styling Emerald’s mane into a bun for her mud bath. “Alright, all done. You just hop in ahead of me and I’ll be right there.”
“See you in a bit, Rarity,” Emerald said as she walked into the mud bathing room.
“Girls? Aloe, Lotus, I’m ready for my seaweed wrappings now!”
EPSILON
“Right this way Emmy!” Pinkie shouted as she hopped ahead of the virus. “We’re almost there!”
Emerald was outside and pulling along a cart full of pastries that was spelled to keep warm by said fake unicorn. They were just arriving at the viewing area of the race Rainbow Dash was going to be in. There were patches of snow everywhere now,- but not as much as there should have been, a consequence of Equestria’s damaged weather production.
Soon the two arrived to the side of the bleachers set up for the audience and began setting up their stand. They got their first customer just as they were finishing.
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash greeted as she lighted down on the ground before the two. “I’ll have the donut with the most icing!”
“Sure thing, Dashie!” Pinkie said and opened up the plastic covers over the pastries.
“Hey there Rainbow,” Emerald greeted back. “How do you think you are going to do?”
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to win.” Rainbow Dash smirked as she handed Pinkie a few bits. “I mean. not to be insulting all the other racers’ skills, but I am pretty awesome, and these guys aren’t exactly national championship material.”
“Never know,” Emerald began. “One of them may just surprise you.”
Almost as if on signal, another racer chose that moment to arrive and landed on the ground with an audible boom from her landing too hard. She had a turquoise coat and a mane that was orange and blond and had eyes that were orange. However, instead of a pegasus, she was actually a Thracian; a podargos. She shared the same physical changes as most other podargos, slitted eyes, a wild mane but had blade wings instead of long scales replacing each feather.
“U-uhh, s-sorry!” the Thracian mare shouted nervously at all the people who were startled by her appearance. “Hav-haven’t got landing softly down just yet… d-did I arrive on t-time though?”
Instead of answering her, most ponies, audience and racers alike, took to shying away from her, Intimidated by her appearance and her somewhat violent arrival. At that, the mare got a downtrodden and somewhat miserable look on her face.
Upon seeing this, Emerald frowned before walking away from the pastry stand and towards the Thracian.
“Hey there!” Emerald greeted with a smile. “You aren’t late. In fact, you are right on time. The race should be starting soon, in about ten minutes or so.”
“Oh! Thank you!” the mare said with a sharp toothed smile. “I’m Lightning Dust! It’s nice to meet a pony who isn’t turned off by my appearance. Can I have your name?”
“I’m Emerald Gleaner, and I’ll never have a problem with anypony like you,” Emerald said, keeping a frown from appearing on her face. “Being what you are can’t be that bad, can it?”
“W-well… not really?” Lightning stated with some uncertainty. “Some ponies… some ponies are just idiots, really… anyway, it’s nice to see that a famous pony like you is so open minded, but I have to get going. I want to make sure I’m early.”
The Thracian mare then took off with a soft blast of air from her powerful wings and up towards the clouds. As she quickly arrived at the starting line of the race atop a cloud, Rainbow Dash walked over.
“Huh, I wanted to see how good those podargy guys were,” Dash commented. “Now’s my chance. I’ll get to see just how fast those changes made her.”
“Glad to see you are excited,” Emerald stated. “Also it’s podargos.”
“Meh,” Dash waved off before shooting off into the air as well.
Emerald stared after Dash for a moment before turning around. The sight of a large line of ponies starting to form at Pinkie’s stand met her eyes and she quickly trotted over to help out.
Back up in the sky, Rainbow Dash landed on the cloud the starting and finish line was located on. Lightning Dust was already over to the side and awaiting the signal to go. From the looks of things, the other racers didn’t want to be next to her and were already claiming spots to avoid just that. Wondering just what their problem was, Rainbow Dash walked over to take a spot next to Lightning Dust. She gave a friendly smile which Dust happily returned.
Before long, everyone was lined up at the starting line and waiting for the race to start. Another pegasus soon arrived on the cloud, wearing a black and white striped shirt and holding a checkered flag. He walked over to the side of the lined up racers and held the flag above his head.
“Ready?” he called out and everyone got into stance.
It was at this moment that Dash noticed a change come over Lightning Dust. Suddenly, she no longer seemed nervous and a bit unsure of herself. Now she had a cocky grin on her face and had an air of total confidence in herself. Rainbow Dash had a feeling this race was going to be a bit more exciting for her then she thought it would be.
“Set… GO!”
With a wave of the flag, the racers burst into the sky. Dash was quickly at the lead of them, but so was Lightning Dust. The two mares were quickly leaving even the fastest of the racers behind and heading for the first checkpoint, which was a cloud with red flag on it.
Giving Dust a look, Rainbow Dash put some more effort in and started pulling ahead. Lightning Dust gave a wide, excited sharp toothed grin before catching up with Dash and then passing her. By the time the two of them blew past the first checkpoint, it was Rainbow Dash that had to play catch up to Lightning.
The two racers just continued to move faster and faster, and all the while Dash was having the time of her life. This was a challenging race and if Lightning kept accelerating, she soon wouldn’t be able to catch up anymore, a fact she didn’t mind at all. Looking over at who she now considered her rival, she blinked a little at the sight that met her eyes.
Lightning Dust was flying through the air and excited as could be, but she also had something going on with her wings. It seemed like with every flap of her bladed wings there would be a small shower of sparks that would fly off. Dash then just shook it from her mind. She tended to leave behind a rainbow colored streak whenever she was going fast. Maybe that was just what happened with her?
The other racers were only just passing the first checkpoint by the time Dash and Dust had not only passed the halfway checkpoint but were already closing in on the last checkpoint before the finish line.
Dash at this point felt like her wings were on fire, but felt exhilarated as well, even as Lightning Dust continued to pull ahead of her. She tried to pour on even more energy to try to at least be head to head with Lightning Dust, but she had been going full out pretty much the entire race and then some. She just couldn’t get herself to go any faster, despite how much she wanted.
Several moments later found Lightning Dust skidding to a stop atop the cloud with the finish line and whooping in delight at her win. Dash arrived about ten seconds later and landed on the cloud and began panting, struggling to catch her breath. She wasn’t mad about losing. She had come to this race expecting it all to be easy and just some laid back fun to relax from the long hours of work. The fact that she found a pony that was not only challenging for her but capable of beating her only made this race more fun and exciting. She went to approach the mare who was still celebrating her own win, but while she did this, she didn’t notice something going on with the crowd.
The crowd down below wasn’t exactly putting their all into cheering for Lightning Dust’s win. In fact, they only seemed to be just cheering enough to not be considered rude. Dust noticed this fact rather quickly and her happy, confident grin quickly faded and the shy nervousness she displayed before returned.
“Hey there!” Dash greeted excited, still breathing a little hard from the exertion she put into the race. “That was a great race! Nice to see another top racer here.”
“Th-thanks.” Dust smiled back at Dash.
At that moment was when all the other racers started arriving with heated looks on their faces. They were muttering not at all quietly as well and Dash could hear them as they came down for a landing.
“Pfft, course she won. She has that unnatural advantage of hers,” one racer muttered.
“Not even Rainbow Dash could win and she managed to do a Sonic Rainboom for that Young Flyers competition,” another added.
“It’s not fair. How are supposed to compete with something like that?”
“I… I shouldn’t have come,” Lightning Dust stated and quickly flared out her blade wings before shooting into the sky in a burst of wind.
“Hey, what about your medal!” Rainbow Dash shouted, pointing at the pony wearing the black and white shirt.
But Lightning either didn’t hear or ignored her. She kept on flying and was soon a dot in the sky.
“Oh you guys are a bunch of sore losers,” Dash stated loudly before darting to over to the pony holding the medal and grabbing it. She then shot into the sky as fast as she could, though it wasn’t very fast as she was fresh off a rather tiring race.
Thankfully, it seemed that Lightning didn’t go too far at full speed and before long Dash could see her gliding along at a leisurely pace. Taking advantage of this, Dash managed to work up enough energy to catch up to the Thracian quickly.
“Hey there!” Dash shouted as she flew into place beside Dust, surprising her greatly. “I wanna congratulate you on winning again. Also, here’s your medal. You really deserve it.”
Lightning Dust stared at the gold medal Rainbow Dash was holding out to her with wide eyes for several moments. She then smiled gratefully and took the medal from the other mare.
“Th-thanks. This means a lot to me.” Lightning smiled.
“No problem!” Dash smiled and alighted on a nearby cloud as she was rather tired. “So uhh, how are you feeling about those guys down there?”
“…I’ve had that treatment before,” Lightning replied as she followed Rainbow Dash down onto the cloud. “I mean it’s great and all, being this strong, having all these new senses that open up so many new things in life. But it’s also kind of bad that ponies don’t like Thracians all that much. We scare them, and we look really weird compared to them. But you know what? I think that’s their problem, not mine. Just because I look different doesn’t mean I’m all that different from them on a personal level, yet they all act like I’m some sort of dangerous stranger. Well I LIKE what I am! I may not have asked for it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it now, and I’m not going to be changing myself just to make them feel better…”
Rainbow Dash stayed silent and only sat as Lightning Dust seemed to take the opportunity to vent her feelings on her change.
“Thanks… I-I kind of needed to say that to somepony that wasn’t another Thracian,” Lightning Dust stated after going quiet for a moment.
“No problem,” Dash replied with a grin. “Us top fliers got to stick together.”
“Yeah…” Lightning Dust smiled. “Your name is Rainbow Dash and you stay in Cloudsdale, right?”
“Yep, and Ponyville,” Dash answered.
“Right, I think I’ll… be visiting every now and then.” Dust smiled warmly before flaring her wings and darting into the sky. “See ya!”
“See ya later, Lightning!” Rainbow Dash waved after the Thracian mare.
ZETA
Twilight sat bent over a desk in her bedroom as she wrote a highly complex diagram on a piece of parchment.
It was the dead of night and Twilight was busy putting the finishing touches on her master plot to retrieve the elements from their secure vault. She had been working on this plot for a while now. Being the princess’ student had its advantages, namely being allowed to know a number of details about certain places. But even knowing what protections were on the vault didn’t mean the means of getting around them were easy. Even for someone as intelligent as her, the sheer prospect of trying to undo them was nearly intimidating enough to for her to give up. But Twilight was doing this for a reason. She wasn’t going to abandon what she felt was Emerald’s only means of escaping dire punishment unscathed.
‘Augh… my head…’ Twilight thought as she laid her head on the desk. ‘But at the very least all the effort paid off. I’ve got my master plan here all worked out and ready to set into motion. There are just two issues I need to solve before I can start my plan in the first place.’
‘I need to get Emerald near the palace as I don’t believe it will be long before the missing elements will be noticed,’ Twilight thought with a concerned frown. ‘I also need to convince my friends to go along with my plan in the first place… which is much trickier, I’m afraid…’
Twilight let out a groan before leaving her desk and going to her bed. Emerald’s empty bed sat practically unused since the day she had it brought in.
‘Don’t know why I brought a spare bed in the first place,’ Twilight thought as she slid under the covers. ‘I knew that Emerald didn’t sleep much, if ever, when they started bringing in furniture. I guess I just wanted her to have the option, even if she didn’t use it. Anyway, thankfully I already sort of have a solution to both of my problems.’
‘Princess Celestia has requested that me and my friends do the Hearth Warming Eve play in Canterlot,’ Twilight thought as she rolled over and stared out her window at the shining moon in the night sky. ‘We were planning on bringing Emerald along anyway, so now I can just ask her out on a date to… say the palace gardens? Having the backstage all to ourselves means I can convince the girls while I’m there… actually, it’s probably best if I leave that for the last possible minute. That way there is much less chances of them accidentally letting the secret out. Even if they do afterwards, it won’t make any difference as Emerald will be redeemed.’
After some staring out the window, Twilight managed to catch a glimpse of her own reflection upon the glass. She looked horrible with her hair sticking out everywhere. Her eyes appeared to be somewhat bloodshot as well.
‘… Alright, hopefully a good night’s sleep will solve the appearance issue,’ Twilight thought. ‘If not, then hopefully I can use a spell to fix it maybe? Anyway, it’s pretty late and tomorrow will be very eventful. Need to be at one hundred percent.’
With that, Twilight closed her eyes and settled in, so assured that her plan would work and that everything would turn out alright in the end. She didn’t have any bad dreams in the slightest.
ETA
Emerald made her way past the crowded seats of the theater to her own seat.
It was the day of the Hearth Warming Eve play and she had been in the back with the girls for a bit before it started. She herself could have been in the play as well, but honestly there were no more parts to fill. She could have taken over as narrator, but Spike seemed rather excited to be involved in something like this and she didn’t want to take that away from the little guy.
“Oh my gosh!” Emerald heard a loud whisper. “It’s you!”
Emerald turned her head to the side just as she took her seat. Just behind her was Ink Well, the little filly Lampon. She seemed to be with her parents who seemed aghast that their little girl was bothering someone like her. Maybe they were aware of who she was and thought she wouldn’t want anything to do with someone like Ink Well?
“Oh hey there,” Emerald greeted with a smile. “It’s been a few months since I’ve seen you. How have you been? Been acting like a little hero like you said you’d be?”
“Uh huh!” Ink Well nodded happily. “I made sure Picture and her toadies don’t bother anypony else while I’m around! I almost got in trouble though when they told their parents about me, but all the ponies I helped out took my side and no one believed them after that.”
“Sounds like a happy ending for everypony,” Emerald remarked with a smile just as the lights began to dim. “Well it looks like the play is about to start. All my friends are actors in here… they are kind of first timers though, so if they are terrible try to go easy on them.”
“No problem!” Ink whispered with a sharp toothed grin.
Emerald turned around and faced the stage. Telling Ink Well about this being her friend’s first time acting made her think about why they actually got the part in the first place. Twilight did say that doing this was a great honour; surely there were veteran acting troupes that could do this with certainty of not messing up? Because no matter how eager everyone was to do this, the simple fact was, this was all their first time acting and they could just be utterly terrible at it. So why had Princess Celestia done it, then?
‘Guess it will be just one of those things,’ Emerald thought, throwing a glance at the royal box behind her. ‘I do hope they manage to do a good enough job, though. Would be kind of bad if they got booed off stage.’
Suddenly the curtain on the stage opened and a light shined down. Spike appeared, wearing a courtier outfit and walked in front of a fireplace on the stage.
“Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia,” Spike began in a faux British accent. “And before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony. It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart... by hatred!”
All the ponies in the crowd gasped in shock at the proclamation, causing Emerald to smirk and roll her eyes. The idea wasn’t something new to her.
“I know. Can you believe it?” Spike said, breaking character for a moment before continuing. “During this frightful age, each of the three tribes, the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies, cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welfare. In those troubled times, as now, the pegasi were the stewards of the weather. But they demanded something in return. Food that could only be grown by the earth ponies.”
As Spike narrated, the scenery on stage started to change and other ponies appeared. There were some pegasi wearing togas, some unicorns wearing fairly dirty medieval clothing and earth ponies looking a bit dirtier with their equally medieval but ragged clothing.
“The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day and night,” Spike narrated. “And so, mistrust between the tribes festered, until one fateful day, it came to a boil. And what prompted the ponies to clash? 'Twas a mysterious blizzard that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes' precarious peace.”
What followed next was some honestly impressive scenery design and special effects work, likely done by unicorns. The scenes on the stage did really look like a land caught in the grasp of a brutal blizzard and the actors in these supporting roles did a pretty great job in showing three conflicted peoples. Emerald was rather interested in the next scene though, as from what she had read of the script, this would be the one where the girls were introduced.
To her utter surprise, they were doing okay for first timers, though Pinkie did let a bit of herself leak into her character a bit. She was sitting back and enjoying the rather enjoyable performance when she spotted a royal guard coming down her aisle. She was one of Luna’s Night Guard, judging by the bat wings, the yellow eyes and dark coat.
“Miss Gleaner?” the guard whispered to her.
“Yes?”
“Princess Luna in the Royal Box has requested that you come up and sit with her,” the guard stated.
Emerald blinked and looked back at the Royal Box and saw that Luna really was up there. The Moon Princess saw that her student was looking up at her and waved down at her with a happy smile.
“Oh, sure thing,” Emerald replied to the guard. “I’ll head up right now.”
“Right this way, Miss Gleaner,” the guard stated.
Emerald left her seat and followed the guard, soon making her way up some stairs and finding herself before a door guarded by four Royal Guards, two being Celestia’s in their bright golden armor and the other two being Luna’s in their enchanted armor and altered appearance.
“The Royal Box is right here, Miss Gleaner,” the guard guiding her stated. “The princess are just behind the door. You may enter.”
“Thank you,” Emerald said before entering the Royal Box.
Inside, she saw a lavish seating area. There were a few tables along with a handful of seats, likely for the guests the princesses would like to accompany them. Said princesses were watching the play while seated, Princess Luna simply sitting solemnly and watching the play while her sister sipped form some sort of drink with a crazy straw.
“Hello my dear student!” Luna greeted with a smile. “Come, sit beside me.”
Emerald did as the Princess requested and walked over to take a seat beside her.
“So, how are you enjoying the play?” Luna inquired. “Your lover and her friends appear to be doing wonderfully for first time actors.”
“Hehehe, I think we are still at fillyfriend level, but yes, I am rather pleasantly surprised they are doing so well for their first performance,” Emerald replied with a smile as she looked down at the play in progress.
“Hmm… likely another difference in language…” Luna mused for a moment. “Ahem, I’ve actually had some ulterior motives for bringing you up here.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, you see your fillyfriend had a rather disturbing nightmare a short while ago,” Luna replied. “I had managed to spot it and went to investigate. When I went in, I saw a terrible image of Ponyville in flames and the both of you sitting together on a hill. I do not know what the two of you were doing and before I could investigate I had spotted Twilight floating overhead. I had gone to her to comfort her in such a disturbing dream, but I think my presence may have shocked her awake.”
“Wow, that… sounds rather distressing,” Emerald muttered. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“I do not know, but you know now.” Luna replied. “I advise you go see her on this matter as soon as you can, and my sister agrees with me on this.”
“I will,” Emerald said and shot a smile at Celestia who gave a serene one back. She decided knowing the reason why Celestia had asked for the girls to be acting in this play wasn’t important. Because of her relationship with Twilight, she was entrusting Emerald in handling the problem she seemed to be suffering with. She was willing to throw her a bone and trust her back on her decision regarding the play.
For Emerald, the play coming to an end couldn’t come soon enough. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy it, or that it was terrible; the girls were honestly putting on a grand show. But after what had Luna told her about Twilight, she was now a little worried about her and wanted to go see her. She couldn’t exactly do that while she was on stage, so she had to wait until it was over.
After what felt like an eternity of fidgeting in her seat and being shot amused looks by both princesses, the play came to a close with everyone giving a bow to a cheering audience. As soon as the curtains dropped, Emerald quickly got out of her seat and rapidly made her way to the backstage where everyone else was.
She arrived to the sight of Twilight talking to the others while they were nodding their heads but had somewhat confused and curious frowns.
“Twilight,” Emerald called out as she entered the room. “Are you alright?”
“Yes I am, Emerald,” Twilight responded with a smile. “I admit to feeling some jitters, but once I got into the swing of things it was all very fun.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Emerald replied. “I’ve just come back from the Royal Box and Princess Luna told me about this horrible dream you had a while back. Are you feeling alright?”
For a moment, Twilight got this wide eyed and alarmed look on her face before she looked down at the floor and hid her expression behind her bangs. After a moment, she looked back up at Emerald with a look of determination.
“I did have a really bad dream a while back,” Twilight began. “But I haven’t had another since, because I set out to confront my fears. Emerald, this is kind of coming out of nowhere, but I want to take out on a date in the palace gardens. I have a wonderful surprise that will make the both of us so happy.”
“Oh… sure!” Emerald blinked for a moment before smiling. She wondered why Twilight looked so determined all of the sudden, but she probably set out to get to first base or something. She didn’t see any harm in it, and this would only allow her an opportunity to get Twilight to open up about why she had such a terrible dream.
“Great, let’s go right now,” Twilight said with a small smile before turning back to the others. “I’ll see you girls later.”
“Oh uh… sure?” Rainbow Dash replied with a bit of a wave.
Emerald wondered at the odd inflection on the word, but shook it out of her mind. Right now, her main concern was Twilight and this sudden date she was bringing her on. She wondered what the surprise she had in store for her was, but knowing Twilight it probably was going to be something adorable.
THETA
Twilight felt her heart pounding as she led Emerald into the garden covered in thin sheets of snow. It was night and there was a definite nip in the air from the snow. She herself was wearing a woolen cap with a pompom on the top, along with a matching scarf. Emerald, being Emerald, didn’t need any of that and was comfortable as she was.
“Alright, here we are,” Twilight stated as she struggled to keep the nervous tension out of her voice. “C-can you wait here? I need to get the surprise…”
“Sure thing, Twilight,” Emerald said with a smile and stepped beside Twilight and gave her a tight hug. “Just relax, Twilight. I’m sure whatever it is you have in store for me, I’ll love it.”
“Y-yeah…” Twilight said and felt a sharp pain in her chest. “Just wait here. I’ll be right back.”
“See you soon.”
With Emerald taking a seat in the snow and watching the moon, Twilight made her way to the palace interior as quickly as she could without running. Once she was inside and out of sight, she teleported away to a chamber to the side of the main hall.
“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy exclaimed at Twilight sudden arrival.
“Alright sugarcube, we came here like you asked,” Applejack stated with a frown. “Even timed it so we snuck in without anypony spotting us. Now tell us why in tarnation we snuck into the palace?!”
“Yeah! This is really sketchy, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said with a bit of worry. “I mean, I trust you and all, enough to do this obviously, but I really want to know why we did this.”
“T-this is going to be REALLY hard to believe but listen to me…” Twilight began and could feel her own tension rise even further. “Emerald… is the Monster of Everfree…”
For the longest moment there was silence, utter silence, as everyone remained still, their expressions frozen to what it was before they heard Twilight’s statement.
“…WHAT!” Rarity said in the most insulted voice Twilight had ever heard come from her. She could barely believe the look that Rarity was shooting her, and had the feeling that if she didn’t explain herself further she’d be down one friend for a while. “Twilight, we’ve all seen the Monster and I don’t know if you noticed, but Emerald looks nothing like it. Furthermore, Emerald is most certainly NOT a killer.”
“Uh yeah… Twilight, are ya feelin alright?” Applejack stated and came closer to place the front of her hoof against Twilight’s forehead. “Yer not feeling sick or anything?”
“Oh my, illnesses that cause delusions are ever so terrible,” Fluttershy added worriedly. “We should-”
“NO!” Twilight shouted as loud as she dared. “I am not sick! I am not delusional! You have to believe me! Please!”
“Twilight, imagine how it looks from our prospective,” Rarity replied stiffly. “Here you come out of the blue, ask us to sneak into the palace without a single word of explanation for why and then accuse Emerald, your own fillyfriend I may add, of being a horrific monster that has caused the deaths of hundreds.”
“Remember during that time we fought the monster?” Twilight said almost desperately. “I almost fell off a cliff? When it caught me, it said something to me. It said ‘All brains and no brawn, eh Twilight’. Rarity, Applejack you have to remember that Emerald said the exact same thing to me during our sleep over!”
“A coincidence,” Rarity said with total confidence, Applejack nodded in agreement but now she wasn’t looking so sure. “If that’s all you have…”
“No… later on I told you I was going on a walk?” Twilight said. “Well I went for a walk into the Everfree to prove my suspicions were right, and I came into contact with Emerald again in an entirely different form. She is a shape shifter. That is why she can look like a monstrous creature and still be a model.”
“Wait…” Dash broke in. “You mean you’ve known for like half a year that Emerald was the monster-”
“Supposedly,” Rarity insisted.
“Yeah, supposedly the monster,” Rainbow Dash corrected herself in some annoyance. “And you didn’t tell anypony?”
“It’s haunted me to this day and driven me to this…” Twilight confessed with tears starting to appear in her eyes. “Please… Emerald is our friend… she means so much to us, doesn’t she? The Elements of Harmony redeemed Princess Luna and now everypony loves and trusts her despite her past. They can do the same for Emerald; redeem her of her horrible crimes, so when she is finally found out by the princesses, they won’t try to take her away.”
“P-p-please!” Twilight begged her friends with a sob. “If you can’t believe my story, then in the very least trust me! I just want to make sure Emerald won’t be taken away from us… please!”
With barely a moment’s hesitation, Rainbow Dash quickly stepped beside her friend and gave her a comforting hug.
“It’s alright Twi…” Dash muttered. “Your story may be kind of out there, but I’ve always got your back.”
“Whelp… I consider ya an honorary Apple,” Applejack stated. “And family sticks together…”
“It’s alright, Twilight. Please stop crying,” Fluttershy soothed as she gave the unicorn a hug as well. “I trust you too.”
Rarity frowned. She felt sympathy for Twilight, but she was still accusing Emerald of being a horrible monster. She turned towards Pinkie to judge her reaction and was surprised when she saw that the normally cheerful and silly pony was as serious as could be. There was not a single hint of humor in that solemn expression she now had.
“I don’t know about this…” Pinkie said, sharing a look with Rarity.
“I’m very hesitant…” Rarity stated. “But… if you four really are going to do this, then I… I suppose I should tag along to make sure nothing horrible happens.”
‘And lessen the fallout when this all inevitably fails horribly,’ Rarity thought.
Pinkie Pie shot another look at Rarity and, after a moment, nodded in understanding.
“Great!” Twilight exclaimed and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Follow me; I’ll lead you all to the vault where the Elements are.”
Twilight lead her friends down the darkened halls of the palace, feeling the need to be quick as the longer she took, the more likely Emerald would come looking for her. Before long, the group was before the vault door.
“What’s the plan, Twi?” Applejack asked.
“The protections for the Elements of Harmony are very numerous,” Twilight began. “I have a twenty point plan to undo all the protections, along with a spell in place in case I trigger the-”
Suddenly a bright light shined from behind the door of the vault, intense enough to blind the Mane Six. After several long moments, the brightness died down and all was silent for a moment, then with a groan the vault of the door pulled apart. Inside was a small box sitting upon a pedestal. With a sharp crack, the lid of the box broke open as the Elements of Harmony rose into the air, each one glowing softly. After a moment, the Elements shot towards their bearers. The necklace Elements quickly snapped around the necks of the Mane Six while the tiara darted onto Twilight’s head.
The girls were quiet for a moment.
“This… this is a sign!” Twilight exclaimed with a smile. “The Elements are on my side! They know what I’m trying to do!”
“Have to agree with you now, sugarcube,” Applejack stated as she looked down at her own Element. “Course you know what this means about Emerald…”
“We’ll handle the reality of her actions later,” Twilight stated determinedly. “Let’s redeem her right now.”
“I don’t know, girls…” Rarity stated as she frowned down at her Element. “This seems a bit suspicious…”
“Come on Rarity!” Twilight said as she already began to trot away. “The Elements of Harmony are a force for good! They wouldn’t do anything terrible to Emerald.”
Rarity grit her teeth in worry and uncertainty and shared a look with an equally uncertain looking Pinkie Pie. Twilight was right, wasn’t she? The Elements are a force for good…
Twilight lead the girls down the hall towards the gardens. Soon, they arrived at the door outside to them. Twilight waited briefly for everyone to line up with her before heading out into the cold of the winter night.
The violet unicorn could feel and hear her heart pounding away in her chest as she came within view of Emerald sitting patiently in the garden, staring up at the moon. She and her friends approached her, the sounds of their hooves crunching the thin sheets of snow as they walked.
Emerald turned at the sound of their approach with a smile on her face, clearly expecting Twilight alone. Her smile faded from her face as she saw the others and looked confused before noticing the Elements of Harmony.
As Emerald got a look of total and utter disbelief, Twilight felt something, like a terrible sense of haste and urgency emit from the tiara about her head. Suddenly she was wrenched into the air by the power flowing into the Element. This was so surprising and different from when she first used the Element on Nightmare Moon that she couldn’t help but give a shout of surprise, something the others mirrored as well.
Just as Emerald was starting to back away from the six, the Elements’ glow intensified greatly and several beams of light left them before shooting towards Emerald. There was a great thunderclap as the beams of multicolored light impacted Emerald and the others were blinded and fell to the frozen ground.
Sounds of grinding and crumbling stone met the ears of the Mane Six as the light faded.
Meeting their eyes was Emerald… now unable to move and weakly struggling with her legs of stone. The virus gave painful gasps as she seemed to struggle for breath, new patches of stone appearing on her body and starting to spread.
“T-T-Twilight… w-why…” Emerald managed to get out before her mouth turned to stone. As the stone started its final push to claim her body a single tear managed to leave her eye before she was totally encased in stone, her face frozen in an expression of pain and betrayal.
There was a long silent moment as the others stared on in utter shock, taking in the results of their actions.
“N-no…” Twilight said quietly shaking her head. “NO! THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!”
The unicorn shot back up onto her hooves and reached up for her Element. She took hold of the tiara and tossed it away, partially burying it into a small snow drift a short distance away.
“SHE WASN’T EVIL!” Twilight screamed after the element. “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO REDEEM HER! NOT SEAL HER AWAY!”
“Emerald, I’m sorry!” Twilight cried out as she run over to the statue and wrapping her forelegs around it. “I’m so sorry Emerald! It wasn’t s-supposed to g-go this way… I’m s-so s-sorry… please come back… please...”
“Twilight Sparkle…” Twilight heard and turned her head to see Luna and Celestia standing a short distance away. Luna started in horror of the petrified form of her student while Celestia looked on in confusion and disbelief of the scene before her.
“What happened here?” Celestia asked aloud.
Twilight had no answers for her; she clung to Emerald’s petrified form and cried guilty tears.
From a second story window, Discord stared at the scene below with a curious expression, a hand cupping his chin as he pondered everything he witnessed.
IOTA
Emerald took in her surroundings.
It looked like she was in the gardens but there was no snow, and for as far as she could see there was a thick mist clouding everything. The mist was so thick she couldn’t see beyond thirty feet and beside here was a ghostly form of herself, likely a representation of her petrified body.
After considering her circumstances, Emerald got a determined look on her face. She had gotten through great torments before and had refused to give up despite the many opportunities. She would survive this, she would escape, she would… she would… she…
With groan of despair, Emerald toppled over onto her side with a thump before curling up in a ball. She cried and sobbed bitter tears of betrayal as she couldn’t help thinking of all the happy times she shared with Twilight. And in the end, the one thing she always feared would have happened had come to pass.
For a long moment, only Emerald’s cries echoed in this gray empty mirror of Equestria … then the voices began…
-TBC-